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Great Barrier Reef Excursions

Subsidy information

Queensland primary and secondary schools and registered home school students can apply for the subsidy for eligible school excursions. Applications must be completed by 5pm AEST 31 December 2029, or earlier if all available funding has been allocated.

The Program is available upon application to all Queensland primary and secondary schools, including schools of distance education and registered homeschools, where students are participating in an eligible curriculum-related experience as part of their excursion. Schools must apply on behalf of their enrolled students participating in the excursion. Subsidy payments will not be provided to an individual student or their family, except by arrangement with registered homeschools and can only be passed on as savings on the cost of the excursion.

To claim the subsidy of up to $150 per student, a school’s excursion itinerary must include at least one curriculum related reef experience, facilitated through a commercial  reef tourism operator within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area boundaries.

The subsidy is calculated on a per student basis. Accompanying teachers and adults are not included when calculating the subsidy. A student is only eligible for the subsidy once and the school is responsible for ensuring that each student for whom the funding is claimed has not, to the best of the school’s knowledge, received the subsidy previously.

Fifty per cent of the subsidy will be paid upon approval of the school’s application and the remaining 50 per cent will be paid upon receipt of the completed survey after the excursion.

Eligible reef education activities will need to align with the Australian and Queensland curriculum and may include:

  • on-water experiences (e.g. glass bottom boat, whale watching, outer reef pontoon activities, canoeing or sea kayaking, and tall ship or maxi yacht sailing adventures)
  • in-water experiences (e.g. snorkelling, semisubmersible activities, scuba and helmet diving)
  • Great Barrier Reef on-island experiences (e.g. camping, visiting a turtle rehabilitation centre or research station, doing a nature discovery walk)
  • Great Barrier Reef cultural experiences (e.g. Indigenous Sea Rangers and reef education tours, cultural tour and reef education on Great Barrier Reef Sea Country).

Please read the Program Guidelines before submitting an application.